CINCINNATI — The talk of the Reds bullpen on Sunday was about how the team’s relievers would get a hitter out, but it wasn’t about a player of that day’s opponent, the Boston Red Sox, or the next, the Pittsburgh Pirates. No. It was about the Reds’ own rookie first baseman, Sal Stewart.

“What he’s able to do is that he doesn’t just swing for the fence, even though he’s got the power,” nine-year reliever Pierce Johnson said. “He gets to two strikes, he’s going to take his knock the other way, he’s going to advance the runner or just put together a quality AB. It’s his baseball aptitude at a young age that is fun to watch.”

Stewart’s first series of the season made him this year’s first National League Player of the Week. Over three games of the Reds’ series victory over the Red Sox, Stewart went 7-for-10 with three doubles, a home run, three walks and no strikeouts.

During his first spring training with the Reds, veteran manager Terry Francona said Stewart was going to be a good big-league hitter, but he just wasn’t sure when that would be. It turned out to be last September, and not only did Stewart show he could be a future mainstay of the club’s lineup, he was a big part of the present, too, driving in four runs in the Reds’ Wild Card Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Stewart made the Opening Day roster, earning the four-spot in the lineup between shortstop Elly De La Cruz and designated hitter, Eugenio Suárez. Between one of the faces of baseball and a guy who hit 49 home runs last year was a 22-year old who entered with just 58 regular-season plate appearances in the big leagues and five in last year’s postseason.

“He uses the whole field. A lot of times you see guys come up and they strike out a ton. He doesn’t. He makes contact, hits the ball with authority,” Francona said. “That’s like when you play Toronto and the Dodgers, why they’re so tough. It’s not only that they don’t strike out a ton, but they don’t just hit singles. Sal is in that category. He drives the ball, but he also makes some adjustments with two strikes. … He’s just a good hitter.”

Chase DeLauter and Sal Stewart are your AL and NL Players of the Week!

DeLauter: 4 HR, 5 RBI, .353 AVG, 1.412 OPS
Stewart: 7 H, 2 RBI, .700 AVG, 2.069 OPS pic.twitter.com/F0BZGranvQ

— MLB (@MLB) March 30, 2026

On Opening Day, Stewart collected the team’s first hit of the season, a second-inning double against Red Sox ace and Cy Young Award finalist Garrett Crochet. He finished that day 3- for-4 with a pair of doubles. In the club’s next game, he singled in the Reds’ first run of 2026 in his first plate appearance and then hit the team’s first home run to lead off the third. He reached base all four times in the series finale.

None of that surprised Boston’s own budding superstar, Roman Anthony. The 21-year-old first saw Stewart play when they were teenagers and they both played for one of the country’s top travel ball teams, Canes Baseball.

“I’ve been watching him since he was 14 — it’s been the same guy, the same energy, the same personality,” Anthony said. “He hasn’t changed who he is when he’s gotten to the big leagues. Nothing’s changed.”

Among the things that haven’t changed, Anthony said, is that Stewart is still batting fourth, just like he did with the Canes, while Anthony has advanced from the bottom of the Canes’ order to the top of the Red Sox order.

The Canes participate in summer showcase tournaments, and while players came from all over the country, Anthony and Stewart were both from South Florida. After playing together in the summers, they’d play against each other in high school games, Stewart at Miami’s Westminster Christian School and Anthony at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

The Reds took Stewart with the 32nd pick in the 2022 draft, using the compensation pick the team acquired when the Philadelphia Phillies signed free agent Nick Castellanos. Anthony was picked in the second round at No. 79. Both made their big-league debuts last year, Anthony in June and Stewart in September, when they were 21.

Because the Red Sox hold spring training in Florida and the Reds are in Arizona, Anthony said he didn’t even think about seeing Stewart on Opening Day until Boston’s team dinner at Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse in downtown Cincinnati when he saw Stewart and his family walk through the restaurant.

It was a fun moment, not just for Anthony and Stewart, but Stewart’s family. After playing together on the travel ball circuit, the two families became close and would spend time together in Florida.

Their next meeting, this time on the field was less fun, as Anthony hit a line drive 110 mph off of Stewart’s wrist in the fifth inning of the season opener. Both Stewart and Anthony thought he had broken something. Anthony was worried, but was less than surprised when Stewart not only stayed in the game, but also had two more hits after being hit.

Anthony said he texted Stewart multiple times after the game to make sure he was OK.

The response? “Yeah, I’m good, what are you doing tomorrow on the off day?” Anthony said, which made him laugh.

“I was like, ‘Dude, I’m worried here about your hand and you’re switching it up,’” Anthony said. “That’s just who he is. He’s so tough.”

Stewart said he was glad that, if he had to allow a hit there, it was to Anthony. Though Anthony didn’t want to see any Reds player homer, when Stewart did, he was happy that it was his friend, who obviously wasn’t feeling any ill effects from the liner.

“It sucks to see him hitting homers against us, but deep down, you go so far back and you’re just happy for him and his family and the person that he is,” Anthony said. “It’s awesome to see.”